Baron of the Parliament hath place above all Barons and if he be of a higher degree according to the former rule The Spirituall Nobility are thus placed The Archbishop of Canterbury The Archbishop of York Bishop of London Bishop of Durham Bishop of Winchester The two first are placed according to ancient dignity and the three last by act of Parliament and the rest of the Bishops to take their places according to the seniority of Consecration Segar lib. 4. cap. 24. By an Act of Parliament An. 31. Hen. 8. See the Act in Mr. Selden's Titles of Honor. So all men serving near unto the Prince's Person either Civil or Military are allowed a precedency in pari dignitate and themselves according to his seniority of place As to their precedency otherwise Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons are to take their places according to the antiquity of their Title and their Ancestor's creation and their Wives accordingly A Duke's eldest son takes place as a Marquesle but beneath him and his Wife beneath a Marchionesse and if she be the daughter and heir of a Duke she shall go before all Duke's eldest sons wives and however are equall to a Marchionesse but to go beneath them and the younger sons of Dukes are in equall degree with an Earl but to go beneath him and Marquesles eldest sons and their Ladies to take place accordingly So the eldest son of a Marquesse as an Earl and the younger as Viscounts and their Ladies and sisters to take place accordingly as before An Earl's eldest son takes place as a youngest Viscount and the younger as Barons their wives and sisters accordingly Viscounts eldest sons as Barons and their youngest sons to take place with Barons eldest sons above Knights Baronets by an Act of King James and above all Bannerets but those made by the King himself under the Stander and all Knights Batchelers Of Women NOw lest I should be thought malitious to a Sex I owe much honor to before I conclude I shall take some short observations more then already I have And first that although they are not allowed to sit in Parliament yet do they enjoy almost all priviledges due to the other Sex The honorable Feminine Dignities are Princesse Dutchesse Marchionesse Countesse Vicountesse and Baronesse Which are either by Creation by Descent or by Marriage This honor by Creation as it is rare amongst us so it is more rarely taken notice of though many examples have been as Richard the second created Margaret Countesse of Norfolk into the title of Dutchess of Norfolk See the Charter in Mr. Selden Anne Bullen was created Marchionesse of Pembrook by Hen. 8. limited to her and the heirs males of her body to be begotten with creation-mony of twenty five pounds per annum and the ceremony of Mantle and Coronet The Lady Finch was by King James created Vicountesse of Maidston to her and her heirs of her body with speciall clause that her heirs male should have a voice in Parliament and afterward she was likewise made Countesse of Winchester c. Of these Titles thus conferred Sir John Fern takes no notice though else he discourses largely enough By Descent we have continuall examples When any daughter of an Earl or Vicount shall continue a Virgin or marry an Esquire she shall retain that honor that springs from her father's blood take place according and be saluted by the Title of Lady Which word Lady came from Hleafdian or Leafdian by contraction in the Teutonick and so Lafdy and thence Lady as from Laford Lord. The word Laf signifying bread and Dian serve It seems from that they called those persons that for their quality could entertain others and distribute corn and bread to their neighbours by that Title And of old though in the Empire and here the word Dominus was used in generall for salutation amongst men of all sorts yet Domina onely to persons of honor amongst women as the widows of all Tenants in chief and daughters and heirs of all Knights c. The heirs females of any Count or Baron shall enjoy both the Estate divided and Titles too if they be to be divided and they shall be enjoyed by their husbands if they marry in the right of their wives So that if there be two or three or more sisters to share the estate and the honors and dignities inherent be enough they shall enjoy every one one as in the case of the Earldom of Pembrooke in the time of Edward the third and now the Lord Darcy of the North by the same right enjoys the title of the Lord Conyers But this holds not when the title is held by Jus gladii or Knight's service or if the Honor be in any Castle or place onely it cannot be divided but falls and dissolves in the Crown or left to the disposing of the King And again if the estate of honor and dignity be not descending to the heirs generall but entail'd to the heirs male it cannot be the inheritance of a daughter as many times it is But we may understand this the better by that more eminent demonstration of high Offices of the Kingdom which descending by inheritance on the heirs generall have been challenged by the husbands of heirs female in right of their wives the Descent-male failing as in the case of the Duke of Buckingham in the time of Henry the eighth challenging the Office of High-Constableship of England The Office of Lord Steward descended to Blaunch daughter of Hen. Earl of Lancaster in whose right Joh. of Gaunt her husband enjoy'd it So the Office of Earl Marshall descended to the house of Norfolk by an heir female afterward being forfeited by treason was conferred to the Lords Howards of Arundell And in this and all such Descents where there are not dignities enough to allow a partition to all the Sisters but the Honor shall be undividable it shall descend to the eldest or be disposed by the King to which he please And for ennobling by birth these rules are observed That if a Gentleman Knight or Baron do marry a wife of ignoble parents she shall enjoy the title name and dignity of her husband For saith Sir John Fern let the wife be shining and glorious with the dignities of her husband Whereas on the contrary if a Gentlewoman of blood and Coat-Armor shall marry a Francklin Yeoman or the like that is ignoble having no Coat-Armor his condition is no whit advanced by marriage in point of honor Although let him be inferior to her whom she shall marry yet she shall retain the honor state and dignity she was born to But there is this Law for them to walk by too that is Si mulier nobilis nupserit ignobili desinit esse nobilis that is If a Noble-woman marry with an ignoble her nobility is extinguished for she is under the power of her husband and ought not to be in
Serving-men who had their Lands with this condition that they should serve their Lords on Horseback and so by cuting off a piece of the name as our delight is to speak short this name of Knight remained with us But whence it came that our Country-men should in penning the Laws and all Writings since the Norman Conquest 's time term those Knights in Latin Milites that is Souldiers was transferred unto those that conversing near about the Princes person bare any of the great Offices in the Prince's Court or Train But with us I conceive those were first so called who held any Lands or Inheritances in Fee by this Tenure To serve in the War for those Lands were tearmed Knights Fees and those that elsewhere they named Feuditary that is Tenants in Fee were hete called Milites that is Knights as for example Milites Regis Milites Archiepiscopi Cantuar. Milites Comitis Rogerii Comitis Hugonis c. for that they received those Lands or Mannors of them with this condition to serve them in the Wars and to yield them fealty and homage whereas others who served for pay were simply called Solidarii from whence the word Soldier and Servientes This Title comming to be a reward or degree of Honor is thought to be in imitation of the Equestris Order in Rome to which men were onely advanced for extraordinary virtue and notable merit who onely were admitted to beautifie the Caparizons of their Horses their Armor with Gold from whence they were called Equites aurati In which time all sorts of men were distinguished in their degrees by some garb or habit as some by their clothes some by cutting their hair c. The Roman Knights also were allowed to wear a Chain of Gold and therefore called Torquati from Manlius Torquatus who wore the first obtained by him in a victory in France which is by us yet imitated in the collar of S S. by which it is easily collected that the true institution of it was a reward of Honor and Valour not Sloath and Riches And therefore all men thus ennobled ought either to be deserving by action before or by endeavour and good service after and to be else esteemed unlawfull possessors of that Honor at what rate soever purchased The first account of Ceremonies that we have at the creating a Knight is in the example of King Alfred Knighting his grandson Athelstan and after the continuance of them it seems grew more precise and customary by Feasts giving of Robes Arms Spurs and sometimes Horse and Arms untill our later times produced the new yet usuall Ceremony of a stroak over the shoulder with a Sword with these words Sois Chivaler au nom de Dieu by the King or some by his Commission though the Spur hath lately been observed also Another manner of Creation there hath been also among the Saxons before the Conquest which was by sacred Ceremonies shew'd by one Ingulphus that lived in the time of the Conquest by a solemn Confession a Vigil in the Church receiving of the Sacrament after an offering of the Sword on the Altar and redemption of it then the Bishop Abbot or Priest putting it on him made him a Knight with many prayers called Benedictiones Ensis To this Order or degree of Honor an Infant may be admitted though he be a Ward and then till a late Act of Parliament ordained otherwise his Wardship was free both of person and estate but now their lands are not And there were feudall Laws for and at the making the eldest son of a Lord a Knight as there was also for the marrying of the eldest daughter as in the Charter of King John which was mony raised on the Tenant But any man in the order of Priesthood is debarred the Honor of Knighthood of the Sword Cùm eorum militia sit 〈◊〉 mundum carnem diabolum So Sir John Fern. Though I find that antiently they have been allowed it but not without first laying aside their Spirituall Cures and applying themselves to a Secular life So Matthew Paris Dei natalis Johannem de Gatesden Clericum multis ditatum 〈◊〉 sed omnibus ante expectatum resignatis quia sic oportuit Baltheo cinxit militari And then the persons that gave this Honor were sometimes subjects without any superior authority granted to them as well as Soveraignes though long since it hath been an appropriated priviledge of the Crown Landfrank Archbishop of Canterbury made William the second a Knight in his Fathers life-time But the name of Bacheler added to it seems not to have been till the 33 of 〈◊〉 the third Sir John Fern also tells of Ensignes that anciently were marks of Knighthood as a Ring on the thumb a Chain of Gold and gilt Spurrs All which tokens of his Honor he was as carefully to preserve as a Captain his Banner which according to the rules of Arms then if he once lost basely in the field he was 〈◊〉 of flying any more again till he had regained the same or another from the Enemy To which end it was carefully to be provided that such men as were endowed with this Honor should have these Accomplishments He ought to be faithfull and religious just in his engagements valiant in his enterprises obedient to his Superiors expert in Military affairs watchfull and temperate charitable to the poor free from debauchery not a boaster with his tongue ready to help and defend Ladies especially Widows and Orphans and he ought to be ever in a readinesse with Horse and Arms and to attend the command of his Soveraign in all Wars both Civill and Forrain the neglect where of is a crime as great as to fight against him and merits at the least a shamefull degrading And formerly when the King hath been to make a Knight he sate gloriously in his State arrayed in cloth of Gold of the most precious and costly bodkin-work and crowned with his Crown of Gold and to every Knight he allowed or gave a hundred shillings for his Harnessements c. And Knights in this manner dubbed made this esteem thereof that in it consisted the guerdon of their Virtue and Valour the praise of their House and Family the memoriall of their Stock and Linage and lastly the glory of their Name There are many priviledges belonging to that Dignity and Mr. Selden speaks of a Law that a man was to be punished with the losse of a hand that should strike a Knight yet he sayes he remembers no example of the practise of it which I think is the greater honor to the Dignity as being a shame that any such Law should be the guard of a man so honored with Arms and appropriated to the Sword Against a Knight in the War runneth no prescription The Office of a Coroner in former times being honorable none were capable of it but a Knight By antient Custom none were admitted to the House of
a condition above him For example whereof a case is cited of one Ralph Hayward Esquire and the Lady Anne Powes widow of the Lord Powes But I am of opinion that being onely an acception in Court by the Adversary of the Party this is not to be understood but in case the person such a Noble woman shall marry be no Gentleman and that she hath received the Honor she enjoyed before from the right of a former husband and not by descent of Ancestors for the words of Judge Coke run thus Si mulier nobilis nupserit ignobili desinit esse nobilis eodem modo quo quidem constituitur dissolvitur That is If a Noble-woman shall marry an ignoble husband she ceases to be Noble and in the same manner her honor was constituted it is dissolved So as by the Laws of the Nation an Adulteresse forfeiteth her Dower so also her honor of Nobility if she commit adultery either as a wife or widow or else having received honor from her deceased husband and shall so put him out of her mind as to subject her self to another by which act she wipeth both the name and memory of the former from her she hath the sentence of forfeiture against her So Sir John Fern in his Glory of Generosity fol. 62. Yet the Law is thus curious in preserving the memory of Vertue in the honor of its reward that if a woman of noble blood do marry a Churl or Clown and have issue by him she being an heir that issue shall have liberty of bearing her Coat-Armor But Sir John Fern says onely for life and that on a Lozenge Shield which is the feminine bearing with the difference of a Cinque-foile One note more I think proper in this place which is If a French Spanish or German woman be married to any Peer of this Realm or other Gentleman and be not denizoned by the Laws of the Nation she cannot claim the priviledges or titles of her husband nor have Dower or Joynter from him And thus much I think sufficient in this place as to the honor of Women and if I have said too little I wish I could have said more if too much I beg their pardons but refer my self to the Law In the next place I should proceed to the display of Armory by which the infinite number of persons are distinguisht by an innumerable variety of different Ensignes that do illustrate and appropriate their dignity and honor But by the way I have stumbled on another Theam which though it be not so much concerned in honor yet the Kingdom is much concerned in it as a Power and though I need not say much yet I cannot passe by it and say nothing Of a Parliament SOme not altogether knowing of that true constitution of a Parliament may be apt to think that its Authority is onely Supream in this Nation But let such understand that from this Argument if there were none other it is disproved That nothing can be made greater or more excellent than the thing that makes it Propter quod unumquodque tale est illud majus tale And such creatures as shall aim at a Superiority to their Creator are to be esteemed like those Angels that by the same spirit attempting the same pride precipitated themselves from everlasting liberty to eternall chains This great Council did arise from the antient custom of not onely the Saxons but all Nations in the world almost who have had examples of their King 's summoning the chief Peers and Nobles to consult in weighty affairs Which Councel among the Saxons was called 〈◊〉 which was a meeting of the chief Prelates and Peers to deliberate about and to consent to what laws the King should enact and advising in matters of State giving Judgement upon suits or Complaints in the same Court as is understood of the time of King Ine of West sexe about 711. years after Christ. And again of King Ethelbert his ordaining Decreta Judiciorum juxta exempla Romanorum cum consilio sapientum And when Edwin King of Northumberland was perswaded to be a Christian he consulted cum Principibus Consulariis suis. He called to Councell his Princes or Ealdermen and Counsellors And again King Eldred An. 948. In festo Nativitatis Beatae Mariae all the Nobility of the Kingdome were summoned by an Edict from the King as well Arch-bishops Bishops and Abbots as all of the rest of the Lords and Chief Counsellors Thanes and Ealdormen to come to London to a 〈◊〉 or great Councel to consult about affairs of the whole Kingdome As Ingulphus his words are And again in the time of Edward the Confessor the Parliament sate at London Rex omnes 〈◊〉 Magnates In which Parliament the King attaches Earl Godwin for that he had kil'd his Brother Alfred and upon his pleading and submission the King refers him to the Judgement of the Court who a long while debating it to no purpose at last Leofricus Consul Cestriae probus homo quoad Deum Seculum saith the Author spake thus Earl Godwin is a gallant Person and a man next the King of the best birth in the Land and it cannot be denied but by his Counsell or Design Alfred was slain therefore my opinion is that he with his son and all we twelve Earls that are his friends and kindred do present our selves humbly before the King loaden with as much Gold and Silver as every man can carry betwixt his arms to offer it up with supplication for an expiation of the crime Which being consented unto and done the King considering the reference he had made to the Court ratified their act and his pardon By which we see their meetings was at the Kings summons their power only deliberative in giving legall force by consenting to what he should think fit to make a Law and to advise de arduis Reipub not that this force given by them is to be understood otherwise than that because it was enacted by their consent it was the more binding over them their consent otherwise being no whit binding over the Soveraign's will in the enaction for it was his Volumus that made it and let their Consultations rise to never so powerfull votes and results be the thing what it would his Nolumus buried it in oblivion which custom 〈◊〉 ever continued as a true Prerogative of the Crown Nay avisera le Roy which is but The King will consider of it was enough to throw a Bill out of the House Nothing enacted by them though by a generall consent of both Houses of Lords Commons being of any force and that not only before but after the Commons were brought in which I find to be about the time of Edw. 1. his third year of Inauguration an Dom. 1273. Who in the 23. year of his reign confirmed the Magna Charta made by Henry the third though Mr. Selden is of opinion The first
men hath descended to us with so much severity that our Saviour himself gave example in his Practise and Rule in the charge he left us for it in these words Speak not evill of Dignities and many other the like And the Civill Law hath formerly been so severe in the preserving this distinction that Gentle or Noble were prohibited the marrying with the Ungentle or Ignoble as the Ignoble were debarred from any honour or dignity to hinder the evill of introducing mongrell and mechanick dispositions in the Common-wealth and consequently such impostumated humors as is commonly the Off-spring thereof even among the greatest Nobility The Law commanded that in case a Guardian being a Person of honor having the tuition of a Child under age and should marry him to the daughter of an ignoble person it was an injury done to the whole Family a penalty should be inflicted upon the Guardian the reason for though the Husband cannot be ennobled by the Wife yet the Issue of that Male is debased and a Mongrel and primogenitus est totius geniturae quasi splendor gloria and the glory of children are their parents Civill Nobility is an excellency of dignity and fame placed in any Nation People or Blood through the virtues there shewed forth to the profit of that Common-wealth as Sir John Fern defines it This he divides into three so t s of N tions Cities and Families These last are by the Greeks termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latin Nobiles Ingenui and Generosi in French Nobles in the Empire 〈◊〉 among the Spaniards Hiidalgo and Gentilhome or Gentilhombre and in the old Saxon Ardel. Aristotle maketh four kinds of civill Nobility viz. Divitiarum Generis Virtutis Disciplinae Cicero attributes the Crovvn of Generosity to the virtuous and therefore is understood to allow of no other Nobility and Diogenes was so cynicall as to term nobleness of blood a vail of lewdness a cloak of sloth and a vizard of cowardice And what would he have said had he liv'd in our age But to lay by these and many other divisions the Philosophy of latter times have refined Civill Nobility into a triple division The first by Blood the second by Merit the third by Blood and Merit which last without doubt must receive the estimation of the most honorable See Sir Johu Fern and Mr. Segar in his Honor Military and Civill And also by place in the Common-wealth And Bartholus In the Court his words are Omnes 〈◊〉 Principi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ideo Nobiles cùm 〈◊〉 nobilitas idem sunt Nobility of Blood saith Sir John Fern is a Nobility drawn from the first House and continued through the virtues of those succeeding which the Laws and Customs of Nations have permitted the progeny and kindred to challenge as their Inheritance though for no excellency in themselves that enjoy it And this is the Nobility which Boetius takes notice of when he saith Nobilitas est quaedam laus proveniens de 〈◊〉 parentum Now as Nobility by Blood and Merit is justly esteemed the most honorable so certainly this the least the glory they shine in being but the reflection of their Ancestors and not their own proper rayes Neither are dignities and discents of blood enough to ennoble us for whatsoever is not within us cannot justly be called ours but rather the graces and goods of fortune Genus proavos quae non fecimus ipsi Vix 〈◊〉 nostra vaco And certainly the Honor atchieved by an Ancestor livs in his Family as his and to the memory of his vertues and example of theirs which ought doubly to oblige them to care first in keeping that tenderly which their Ancestors purchased so difficulty and to shew themselves the true heirs of such noble spirits in their due imitations of those renowned vertues Therefore it is but vain for a man to boast that he can derive the foundation of his honor from the renowned catalogue of worthy Ancestors and himself degenerate from their heroicall virtues for at the best they blaze but another's honor and their own shame and may quickly be answered as Hermodius was by Iphierates who upbraided him with the stain of so base a parent My House taketh beginning in me but thine taketh end in thy self And our Nation hath produced too many that deserve the saying of Lycurgus whose Soldiers bragged much of the Nobility of Hercules being derived to them he told them Hercules's nobility would avail them nothing except they did those things whereby Hercules became Noble The second is Nobleness of proper Virtue atchieved by Merit which is certainly to be esteemed above the other for a Country's safety dependeth upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 counsell and courage of the virtuous when the 〈◊〉 boastings of an authentick Stock where vertues fail do add nothing to the relief of a Common-wealth in time of need The Romans attired their Knights with a Ring for faithfulness a Buckle for stedfastness and a Bracelet for industry as signes of vertue not of sloth the appropriated priviledge of succeeding Nobility And in all Nobility Author 〈◊〉 à quo primum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in signia profecta sunt homo novus fuit The first atchiever in any stock whatever was a new man ennobled for some demerit Sir John Fern. And all men will judge him that was the originall of a family more honorable than him that succeeded him two or three descents not adding to that honour by any merit of his own Now these two qualities meeting in one man is it that maketh the perfect Gentleman and such a man ought to be preferred before all others in the receiving of Dignity Office or Rule in the Common-wealth Wherefore by the Laws of Arms antiently these seven circumstances were regarded in the chioce of a Captain or Leader his Age his Virtues his Faith or Allegiance his Knowledge in Martiall Discipline his Authority his good Fortune and lastly his Blood and Gentry And antiently none were admitted into the Inns of Court but who were Gentlemen of Blood be their Merits what ever as the Foundations of some of 〈◊〉 do yet shew Therefore it is the best Patrimony a Father can leave his Son to bequeathe him the glory of his merits with the state of Gentility And the best honor the Son can do to the deceased Parent is to continue his name in that estate which his Ancestors left him and by imitating the virtues that obtained it to preserve it without a stain Which consideration hath been the occasion to stir up many generous spirits to a noble contention and commendable emulation to exalt the worthiness of their Familie's fame What those virtues are that must thus ennoble men Sir John 〈◊〉 hath taken too much care I think in demonstrating for whose sake I shall take as little First he tells you of all the Cardinall virtues and then what they are which